How Much Responsibility do you regard Lady Macbeth as having for the actions of her husband.

Lady Macbeth’s responsibility lay in persuading Macbeth to carry out her plans, whilst Macbeth’s responsibility was in his actions (the murders). They were both equal in the responsibility of the murders, but they both showed this in different ways. In this essay I will explain the key points showing each of their actions, and I will explain my opinion, of Lady Macbeth and her responsibility.

Lady Macbeth’s plan to become queen started the instant she heard of her husband’s encounter with the witches and the things that occurred after that. She knows that the encounter with the three witches must have not been Macbeth’s imagination, because I think Macbeth was strong minded enough to not have written the encounter if he hadn’t have seen it for certain. She also knows this because most of the letter is centred on the three witches.

The last two lines of the letter leave Lady Macbeth with a lot to think about, as he says

“…my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart and farewell”.

He is saying trying to give hints to Lady Macbeth that something may become of this encounter, as he calls her his ‘partner of greatness’ and he says ‘what greatness has promised thee’. This shows that he may have a few ideas ready, but wants Lady Macbeth to think about it herself.

When she finishes reading the letter, her mind is already scheming. She knows that he will need her to become King, as she says

“art not without ambition, but without the illness that should attend it”.

She is basically saying that he does not have the will power and ambition to carry it out on his own, but she knows that she has what he lacks, and they can work as a team to achieve the greatness which has been told. The letter shows us a lot about their relationship. He has no secrets that she doesn’t know, and will cast out his feelings to her. On the other hand, she is very quiet and secretive about what she is thinking. This will reveal itself further on in the play. This kind of behaviour shows who may gain the control in the future, due to trickery and lies from Lady Macbeth.

After the letter reading, she calls upon the evil spirits to help her. It is now becoming clear that she will give up her gentle, womanly qualities to gain the top position, even though she will become a sexless, pitiless fiend of a woman.

It now becomes clear that this is a plan that she has been thinking about for a long time. I think this because in my opinion she is saying it with confidence and powerfully as though it is her chance to become queen, and she will make sure it does happen. She had always thought about becoming queen, but had not put her thoughts into actions until then because she was a woman and was not allowed to take the actions that her husband could do due to the society that they were in, she instead had to carry ...

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When she finds out that her husband and King Duncan are coming to her castle, she is shocked as she says “Thou’rt mad to say it”.

To her this just fits into her plan perfectly, and her mind is set on persuading Macbeth. She is very happy when she finds this out as she says that the messenger has brought great news. This is cunning as it seems to the messenger that it is good because she likes the King, but really she is looking forward to the murder. When Macbeth enters, she embarrasses him with his new titles, and is already starting to persuade him for the murder to take place. This is because she knows that Macbeth is a hard and determined man, and it might take a long time to make him commit the murders. She is also already plotting in detail for the murder and is giving hints to her idea of the murder in what she says to Macbeth. She uses double meanings of words like ‘provided for’, which can mean fed or killed. I think she is doing this because she is worried that Macbeth will not want to do it quite yet and would reject the idea if it was thrust upon him, as he has already been given a new title from the king, and thinks it would be unjust to do the murder. Macbeth can see what she is thinking, but chooses to avoid the idea by saying “We will speak further.” Lady Macbeth replies to this by giving no option to Macbeth, and telling him that she will arrange it all. It is beginning to show Lady Macbeth’s power and determination, and her control over her husband.

Lady Macbeth is constantly working on her power and authority in the play, and is slowly manipulating Macbeth’s mind. The more she manipulates his mind, the more authority she has over Macbeth. But because Lady Macbeth has no power in the public, she has to use Macbeth to do her orders and tasks.

In scene 6, Lady Macbeth tries creeping and seducing King Duncan in by pretending to be the perfect hostess. This is like a build up for the murder, and also not many people will think it was her or Macbeth who will commit the murder because she is so nice to him. The little details like these are some of the reasons that Macbeth needs her. She is making people not think that it will be her that will murder. Macbeth would never do anything like that, and would probably be caught if he did not have her to help him. After manipulating Duncan, she then manipulates Macbeth in Scene 7. The scene starts off with Macbeth, agonising over killing Duncan. At first the murder was just a dream to him, but now it has become reality. He lists all of the arguments against the murder. These things are ; vengeance (the killer will be killed), kinship (you don’t kill your relatives), loyalty, hospitality, king Duncan being a good king, religion and pity and horror (he will not go to heaven). All of these things make him change his mind, and he decides that the murder will not take place as he feels he is content with what he is. He tells that “We will not proceed in this business”. I think that he knows he still has power over her, and doesn’t want an argument because of what Lady Macbeth will get like. When Lady Macbeth finds out about his decision, she immediately starts to try to change his mind. She answers to his decision by saying

“Was the hope drunk when you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?…”

She is taunting her husband, trying to tease him to change his mind. I think that the murder is not what he wants, but is only what Lady Macbeth wants at this point. She says that “.. live like a coward in thine own esteem”.

This makes him feel like he should do the murder to be a man, and if he doesn’t do it then he is not fit to be a man. All of this teasing is getting to Macbeth, and he is quite oviously going to break and go with her plan. When Macbeth even tries to reason with her, her answer is fierce, as she says she would rather dash her child’s brains out than betray a promise. The promise that she is referring to is when Macbeth suggested in the letter about killing Duncan. Her brutal words show how corrupt and ruthless she is, and it is clear that she will stop at nothing to become queen.

When Macbeth says of the possibility that they should fail, Lady Macbeth answers “We fail”. She is keen to attempt the murder, as then they will have a chance to become King and Queen. She is very determined and thinks that they will not fail, as long as she is there to guide Macbeth and make sure everything goes right. In my opinion, Macbeth is becoming her little slave. She will boss him around and tell him what to do and he will do it. It is clear than Macbeth’s power and determination is weakening, and his wife is taking full advantage of it.

After Macbeth has murdered Duncan, he and Lady Macbeth are then in a weak and sorry state. This could be because they have been drinking, as she says “That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold”. Even though she thought she was ‘bold’ before the murder, the drink may have done the opposite and made her scared. I think he is regretting the murder, as he did not actually want it to happen that much. His appearance and words show the power that Lady Macbeth has gained over Macbeth. When Macbeth says he has heard voices say “Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep”, this will become true. It has scared Macbeth enough to realise what he has done, and is deeply regretting the murder.

When Macbeth forgets to place the daggers with the guards, she is furious. She is angry because her ‘slave’ has not done as she purposes. It is clear that she has a great deal of power over Macbeth though because he completely obeys her when she asks for the knives, and when she tells him to go wash his hands. Earlier in scene 2, Lady Macbeth revealed that she couldn’t commit the murder as Duncan reminded her of her father as he slept, but now she has not a care in the world. As far as she is concerned, the job has been done.

Lady Macbeth’s power then seems to end in the rest of the play. For example, it is Macbeth that wants to kill Banquo, and it is he who arranges the murderers to kill him. I think that Lady Macbeth has just been putting Macbeth on track to show him what to do, and now he is capable of doing it himself. Before, Macbeth needed Lady Macbeth to push him, but now his ambition has taken over and he is on his own. Also, when Macbeth wants Macduff’s family to go, he arranges it himself. I also think that Lady Macbeth’s madness has started to take over straight after King Duncan’s murder.

In Act 3 Scene 2, it shows Lady Macbeth is starting to lose her control over Macbeth, and Macbeth has started to gain power in himself. This is shown when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that she is worried about the future, and is worried that people may know that they did the murder. Surprisingly, Macbeth comes up with a plan instead of Lady Macbeth. This shows that Lady Macbeth is starting to wonder about the murder, and if it should have taken place.

In Act 3 Scene 4, Lady Macbeth helps her husband when he starts seeing the ghost of Banquo. I do not think she is regaining power, I just think Macbeth is losing it. They are both starting to feel the problems of the murders, but they have to try to deal with it. Lady Macbeth tries to use fierceness to try and help Macbeth, but it does not seem to work. It is clear that she has lost her control over him, and soon she will have lost control over herself.

The rest of the play shows Macbeth with the power, as he is the one who visits the witches and sets up his own doom. Lady Macbeth has completely lost her ability to persuade Macbeth and is sleep walking and acting strangely because of it. When she dies, Macbeth is left alone. Her death does not seem to come as that much of a shock to him, as I think he was already ‘alone’ due to her illness and loss of control.

I do not think though that it was all her fault that the murders took place. Macbeth must have wanted it as well, otherwise the murders wouldn’t have taken place. Lady Macbeth must have been a very strong minded and manipulative lady because Macbeth knew he had the upper in the actions of him and Lady Macbeth because of Male domination, and also with being a soldier he must have been quite strong mentally as well as physically. But due to Lady Macbeth being his wife I think he must have wanted to please her, and they must have had quite a strong relationship as all of the murders were done ‘together’ with both of them knowing about them together.

Overall, her responsibility lay in the murder of Duncan. She was the one who started the chain of events and changed Macbeth into the murdering, determined King. Her responsibility was in persuading Macbeth himself, and being able to turn him into her perfect King. She was a very strong and determined lady, but only had a certain amount of determination. She was able to manipulate Macbeth into what she wanted, but could not cope in the aftermath of the events. Her responsibility was great for a certain amount of time, until she ran out of determination and control.

By Ben Gatley